Blog - AVEX 2015

SiriuS™, the latest ‘all-in-one’ solution from Intelligent Vending Ltd, was given its first public outing in the vending arena at AVEX 2015, in Manchester. Partnering with Ingenico the international leader in provision of cashless payment systems, IV offered its new advanced SiriuS™ vending machine to show off their cashless hardware while providing attendees with a glimpse of what it believes is the future for the unattended automated retail market.

As an industry, vending has been stagnant or in decline throughout most of Europe for the past few years and it is desperate, Intelligent Vending believes, for a fresh impetus that will lead to reversal of this trend. While degrees of innovation are undoubtedly evident across the board in vending, this has been mostly small scale and incremental, and there has been no major development with the explosive energy to bring about the much needed revolution of the industry. Put simply, vending has made virtually little use of the advances in technology that are now standard across all sectors of retail, advertising, and social media. SiriuS™ incorporates the power and imagination to change all that!

The bespoke UI (User Interface) designed for Ingenico offered visitors of the show the ability to enter a competition to win prizes from triggering the vend process in three different ways:

An Ingenico corporate video and other promotional information was also displayed on the machine’s different vend process screens, carrying a key underlying message to promote the new iUC280 payment terminals that are aimed primarily for the standard vending ‘mainstream’ market.

Also, on show was a premium vinyl wrap designed to showcase Intelligent Vending’s commitment to push visual branding boundaries. Using a newly unveiled printable and wrap conformable reflective material, all the visible panels of the machine were fully SiriuS™ branded. The three elements that define SiriuS™; VendHook™, VendHive™, and VendMesh™, were highlighted in the design. The revolutionary material used for the wrap gives an added, almost 3D effect, that is dramatically revealed across a range of different lighting conditions and changes based on the installation environment (see photos below).

As the first in a new generation of automated retail options by Intelligent Vending Ltd, this new self-service SiriuS™ solution offers a core software platform called VendHook™ designed from first principles, and eliminating the drawbacks experienced with traditional vending machine systems and protocols. The machines are fully modular and packed with functionality. Just a few of the features include large 46” touch screen and HD display, advanced product management, digital signage, social media integration, telemetry and the facility to remotely manage all machine functions & diagnostics in real time via Intelligent Vending’s fully bi-directional VendHive™ ‘Internet of Things’ cloud platform.

A key strategy underpinning the design process of Intelligent Vending’s new products was the need to provide a payment option that supported the high value transactions specified by many Intelligent Vending clients. While some card payment systems are available for the ‘mainstream’ sector, they have some limitations in terms of transaction value, and they do not provide VAT receipts, another feature often requested by customers. For its new system, Intelligent Vending has been able to incorporate a full Chip & PIN, Contactless and NFC solution into its machines, fully accredited to the latest Visa and Mastercard standards in the UK and with no cap on transaction values. Our VendHook™ in-house receipt printer design suite also enables our clients’ to customise this ‘print-out’ experience for consumers with a few simple clicks (or touches!) including dynamic QR codes for cross selling or promotions where applicable.

Sam Roe, Managing Director at Intelligent Vending, said: “Projects such as this highlight the versatility of the SiriuS™ system, which is ideally suited to a range of challenging environments. We are looking forward to bringing our powerful Intelligent Vending technology to the widest range of clients, whether in high-end retail or the mainstream ‘plus’ market and increasing their ROI in the unattended space. Our vision is for all sectors to benefit from the sophisticated functionality we now provide as standard – Intelligent Vending by Intelligent Vending.”